It may look kid friendly…

But you probably shouldn’t bring your baby or kids to Vegas.

Well unless you want master illusionist Criss Angel to make them disappear.

You probably want to preserve their innocence until their 40th year like I did mine as my friend and I ventured out to “sin city” for the first time recently with our better halves to celebrate the big 4-0, which by the way is the new 30 and all that stuff.

True it’s a play land and assault on the senses akin to Disneyland in peak season, but with frozen margarita machines reminiscent of free-flowing 7-Eleven Slurpee machines at the ready any time of day and at every corner, it’s probably best to keep the kids at Aunt Aida’s.

You never quite know what time of day it is and there is no bed time because it’s too exciting and there’s too much to see and discover.

Actually, it may be just the ticket for a newborn and the sleep deprived owners.

O.K. you can bring your babies to Vegas if they’re not sleeping through the night yet.

As you walk the Vegas Strip and take in the far-fetched sights, you must channel your inner toddler in order to free your mind of the typical checks and balances it performs in an effort to determine what is real and what is not.

My toddler Carter has such an innocence about him that he takes everything people say literally.

Nothing could be so far-fetched that he wouldn’t entertain the possibility of it being true.

I was giving Carter a bath the other night and he poured water all over the floor.

I was upset with him and said, “that’s not good Carter, now there’s a big lake on the floor.”

His eyes lit up at the thought and leaned forward to catch a glimpse of his very own Lake Scugog and the lack of bass therein. But alas…there was no real lake.

Not sure why Mommy would say that?

Vegas makes a believer out of the sceptic, turning us into toddlers.

“Look, there’s a ginormous motorcycle coming out of the wall.”

This Vegas toddler knows better than to say, “no, it can’t be?!?”

Because in Vegas in can be…and usually is.

O.K. now that we’re home and I’m getting back into the swing of reality it’s time to make a quick baby puree.

I’m going to do a simpler than simple strawberry banana puree that you can use on it’s own or add to baby cereal.

You should wait until baby is 8 months to try this one as there is a slight chance strawberries could pose an allergy risk.

By 8 months their bodies are better equipped to handle the potential risk.

Ready…Set…Evolve…

Banana Berry Bunting

Age – 8 months +

Ingredients

1 cup of fresh or frozen strawberries
1 banana
Yes, that’s it

Baby Steps

Clean and remove green stems from fresh strawberries. If using frozen, this should already be done for you.
Add strawberries and 1 tbsp. of water to a saucepan over medium heat and cook until tender and juicy, approx. 5 minutes if using fresh strawberries, or 8 minutes if cooking from frozen.
Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl and puree using a hand held blender.
Let cool and then transfer to a food storage container in the fridge to be used within 3 days.
To serve with banana, start to peel a ripe banana and take a small piece off and mash in a bowl. Add some strawberry puree to the fresh mashed banana, warm up a bit in the microwave and breakfast is served.

The remaining banana can be left in the fridge for a day or so with the skin still on to prevent browning so whenever you want to give baby a serving along with the strawberry you can just take a piece off and mash it fresh and then add the strawberry puree.

Note:

This recipe makes enough strawberry puree for a few days, but if you want to make a greater quantity you can freeze it in freezing trays for up to 3 months and just defrost a cube as needed and mash a piece of fresh banana to go along with it at serving time.

Vegas was a fun escape and a sight to behold, but with it came sleep deprivation courtesy of a sea of ringing slot machines and blinding interior illumination.

Maybe I should have gone for the big 2-0 instead…which by the way is the new 2.